Final Pages 26-9-09

Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee India, Publication Urdu & English

Civil Liberties Monitor

Editor

Bulletin:1

India

September 2009

Lateef Mohd Khan

✧ Pluralism and Communalism Editorial Board Kaneez Fathima A. Srinivas M. Mandakini Rafath Seema Yahiya Khan

- K.G. Kannabiran

✧ The Shopian shame: brutal assault rape and killing of two Kashmiri women - Prof. S.A.R. Geelani

✧ Minorities’ Rights - Moulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi

✧ Sachar Committee and recommendations Rs. 10/Copies: 1000

- Dr. Rafat Seema

✧ About Magistrate Tamang : Ishrat Jehan encounter Case

For Copies:

Lateef Mohd Khan Amberpet, Hyderabad-500 013 Andhra Pradesh, India Cell : 9391051586 Fax: 040-27403392 www.civillibertiesindia.org Email: [email protected] Cover Photo TwoCircles.net

– Vasudha Nagaraj

✧ Illegal detention and torture: The other side story of serial blasts in Hyderabad - Kaneez Fathima

✧ Poverty and Wealth - A. Srinivas

✧ Violence against women and acid attacks - M. Mandakini

Printers:

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Reports Vatoli Massacre, Sameera Murder, Lockup death & Suspicious death on Orderly work

EDITORIAL We are in the era of Democracy and our country’s constitution is based on Secularism, wherein the protection of rights is guaranteed to common citizens. Civil liberties and Human rights have been recognized and given importance. The article 21 of the Indian constitution guarantees the right to life with human dignity. By taking oath of this constitution, the governments are formed. However, even after all this; the violation of human and civil rights by the state has been continuing. After the 9/11 incident, America has given slogan of ‘war against terrorism’ by globalizing it; in the name of fighting terrorism, violation of human and civil rights have spread all over the world, where India has also come under its influence. To overcome and resist the mass violation of human and civil rights, many civil and human rights organizations emerged, nationally and internationally, CLMC is one among them. The founders of CLMC were already connected with one or the other rights group. While working in those groups, these people involved themselves in the protection of Civil and human rights. The founders were also well aware as to how the struggle can be continued for human and civil rights by being in the limitations of law, in democratic manner and how the government can be made accountable for violation of Human Rights. These were the fundamental points, of which the founders were well aware of. Through our constant work and struggle, the confidence and expectations of the oppressed people also increased. Especially the Muslim community who had lost their courage after the Babri Masjid demolition, continuous riots, and police harassment. They were feeling that the torture and harassment done to them would not be exposed like other cases, but they were becoming aware. People started coming with their problems with lots of hope and wanted immediate relief. We had lots of difficulties by this and faced lots of problems, because we were not able to work independently. However, on the other side, there were loads of problems coming on which immediate attention was needed. Considering this, few people were trained for the rights of minorities and formed ‘Minorities Rights Forum’ which was able to work for few months only. The people working in this forum excused themselves to work because of police harassment and therefore this forum dissolved. After this, ‘Joint Action Committee for the Protection of Minorities Rights’ was formed under which many organizations were part of it. Even this committee ceased to exist after few months because it consisted of people and organizations of different ideologies and concepts, and there were differences in their thinking and working nature. This was the time when the Gujarat carnage took place, which spread from Ahmedabad’s Gandhi Nagar to Hyderabad’s Gandhi Bhavan. In the Genocide thousands of Muslims were killed, lakhs of women were raped and thousands crores worth of property was robbed and engulfed (gutted) in fire. Lakhs of people became homeless and were forced to spend their lives in graveyards. Ahmedabad’s Shah Alam graveyard is one such example. Congress MP Mr. Ahsan Jaffri was brutally killed. Parliament and judiciary were the mute spectators. The situation was so worse that even the doors of sabarmati Ashram were also closed for Muslims. Gujarat High Court Muslim judge had to run helter skelter to protect his life. The other side of this genocide was that the Muslims were picked up arrested from relief camps, leveled with the charges of conspiracy to kill Modi and Togadia and were filled in the jails of Gujarat. This type of arresting was not limited to Gujarat alone; Muslims from other states were also arrested and sent to Gujarat jails. It is very strange that where India is the biggest democratic and secular nation, there every Muslim is robbed, slit and burnt alive. They were even blamed, arrested, tortured inhumanly and booked under draconian law such as POTA. Gujarat’s anti-Muslim Hindutva government proved helpful to Hyderabad’s anti-Muslim police group and thus illegal nexus emerged between them. Andhra police arrested Muslim youth and handed them over to Gujarat police and then they were labeled with the charges of conspiracy to kill Advani, Modi, Togadia and Haren Pandya and each one was also accused of taking revenge of Gujarat genocide. Everyone was mum on these arresting. During that time, a Civil Rights leader and well-known advocate of AP Mr. Bojja Tarakam called up and said “what you are doing when a large number of Muslim youths are being arrested”. Then he suggested to form a fact-finding team. Thus, a fact-finding team was formed with representatives from different organizations. This team visited different parts of Hyderabad, went to the houses of the victims and spoke to their family members, encouraged them to break silence and present the facts before people. This made them feel secure and relaxed. After collecting all the facts, the team presented its fact-finding report before people through press conference. It was clearly mentioned in the report that the anti Muslim group of police is targeting Muslim youth, randomly arresting and handing them to Gujarat police. The illegal nexus between Gujarat and Hyderabad police was also exposed through this report. The people of Andhra Pradesh were in shock when they came to know the facts through our report. The social and political groups of Muslims started speaking against these arrests, the common people expressed solidarity towards the family members of the detained youth. After the fact-finding of the Gujarat genocide in 2002, Prof. Rehana Sultana felt that instead of depending on other committees to condemn the torture on minorities, to bring facts before people, to raise voice against violence,

we should ourselves come forward. To think about this we met people of similar thoughts, took suggestions from intellectuals; everyone thought that this idea is good. Hence, in 2002, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee was formed with the aim that this committee would work for minorities, backward classes and against the violation of the rights of common people. The aims and objectives of the committee are: “to encourage public awareness of constitutional rights and encourage involvement of the whole community in preserving and protecting them. In pursuit of this vision, CLMCI’s mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights”. It was decided that this committee will expand its work all over India; therefore ‘India’ is suffixed to the name. This committee is totally independent, purely non-political and also not related to any party/group. The committee works keeping in view the fundamental rights given in the Indian constitution and Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This committee work is based on Article 21 of the Indian constitution i.e. right to life with human dignity. Common man benefited a lot by the formation of this committee, when the illegal detention, arrest and violation of human rights was exposed due to which saving of hundreds of innocent lives was possible. Democratic ways were explored to protest against injustice, by being in the limits of law. Right from the beginning, CLMC tried to collaborate and work with other organizations, and in return, those organizations understood its importance, co operated and coordinated with CLMC. Apart form this, the international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ILPS also responded on CLMC’s reports. On CLMC fact-finding report National Human Rights Commission registered cases and issued notices to governments. The example of such cases is: a) Encounter case of Zaheerabad b) Child Labour case of Hyderabad c) Twin blasts victim case i.e. of Shiva Reddy Civil Liberties works in the limits of constitution of India, but from the day one itself, a group of fascists’ police officers started blaming CLMC, because the responsible persons of this committee are Muslims, therefore labeling them as ISI and naxalites was easy for them not only this, even threatening calls and SMSs were given by the names of COBRA and BHARAT TALWAR asking to close this committee. However, inspite of all such difficult circumstances, civil liberties continued its work and still resists the difficult situations. At present where we are celebrating 63rd year of independence, on the other side, it is becoming difficult to work for civil and human rights. All kinds of tactics are being used to silence the voice of rights and struggle for the rights. With this one can imagine that even after 62 years of independence, the citizens are still denied the benefits of independence and its practical exposure. In independent India, there is a constitution, democracy, secularism, but even after this, the constitution is not implemented and promoted to develop. Constitution of India and democracy has been limited to electoral politics and the constitution is followed only to the extent, which benefits the ruling class. Democracy is limited only to the extent of elections in every 5 years. Common mans rights are ignored. There is no sense of accountability by the state. Instead of being welfare state, Government is becoming a police state; and police is operating in the manner of kill and get promoted. The minorities and down trodden, fighting for their rights and social justice, killing them in the name of encounter has become common, because to label them as terrorist, ISI, naxalite, conspirator, traitor, waging war against state etc has become easy. They are treated with every kind of torture, for this purpose all kinds of torture cells exist in every corner of state, which are dangerous than Abu Gharieb and Guantanamo Bay. The fourth pillar of Democracy, the print and electronic media have become the estate of Indian ruling class, which has become an instrument to defame the minorities. Police with is biased and of communal mindset, creates stories that are purely fictitious and communal through media. Now a day, media itself runs the trial on accused and declares them as guilty. In the present circumstances, it is very much necessary to bring the voice of the oppressed before common people and this becomes much more necessary when an oppressed is a minority. Because this community is the most unpopular among the police, government and media. It is very easy to target them but very difficult to raise voice against the atrocities done on them; very few people come forward with open hearted. By keeping in view all these circumstances, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee is formed and it started this magazine to expose the facts and create awareness among common people. Civil Liberties magazine is an effort to expose the torture and close the torture cells, custodial deaths and killings in the name of encounters, atrocities by police, to stop the atrocities done by private outfits, to expose the exploitation of the natural resources done on the name of globalization, and apart from this, to raise voice against violation of rights, to support the truth, to bring awareness of the rights, and to continue struggle against the injustice. CLMC believes that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere”.

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Civil Liberties 20th September 2009

Pluralism and Communalism -K. G. Kannabiran,

National President, PUCL

A few years back I raised the question “whether a Political Party not subscribing to the Constitutional value system so clearly spelt out by the Preamble and the other provisions in the Constitution, have its party registered to contest and participate in the country’s election? H V Kamath, a member of the Constituent Assembly, suggested to add a prefix “In the name of God” to the Preamble and this was opposed. It was put to vote in Assembly and was voted against it. In the debates, it was pointed out that invocation of God is inconsistent with freedom of faith promised by the Preamble but also to the guaranteed right. If we say ‘In the name of God’ the question that would arise is: whose God and which God’. That is because there is a plurality of religions and communities and that ruled out the recognition of any religion as a State Religion. The Country went on as a Secular State until electoral politics brought on to the political agenda religion for garnering power and progressively religion started playing a pivotal role in the electoral politics. This entry of politics of the religion of the majority became strident and aggressive after the death of Mrs. Indira Gandhi and its ascendancy was ensured during PV Narasimha Rao’s tenure as the Prime Minister. The attacks on the minority commenced immediately after the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi. Majority religion, after it was brought on to the political agenda, the assault on the minorities increased. The second onslaught was on the Muslims in Mumbai in 1992 and in Gujarat in 2001 by the BJP. The scale on which attacks took place cannot be described as backlash or communal riots for that would be a gross understatement. Moreover, the attacks on Christian minorities in Orissa and Karnataka complete the attacks on the major minority communities. This would include the Hindu terrorism that we are reading almost every day in the newspapers. The violence and the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim terrorism have to be understood as major breaches in terms of Constitutional governance. Whatever debates that take place has to be within the parameters of the Constitution. The Constitution is intended to govern the plural communities residing within this country. The ruling in SR Bommai was given in 1994 in the backdrop of Ayodhya, Babri Masjid and the riots that followed in Mumbai. The Supreme Court pointed out, “The founding Fathers could not have countenanced the idea of treating Minorities as second class citizens. On the contrary, the dominant thinking appears to be that the majority community, the Hindus, must be secular and thereby help the minorities to become secular. For it is the majority community alone that can produce a sense of security for others.” The Preamble declares the objectives having in view the plural communities who have been within the country for centuries. It is intended to govern the plural communities within the Hindu system equally and equitably and the plurality residing outside Hindu Community also for centuries equally and equitably. No political Party or Community has any authority to ride roughshod over the other constituents of this society. There cannot be a partial suspension/enforcement of Rule of Law. The government cannot ban all the minority communities’ outfits big and small and not ban RSS and its outfits and allow them the freedom of assembly to conspire and commit offences at will. The Schedule to Unlawful Activities Prevention 1967 will reveal the glaring partial suspension of Rule of Law. This partial suspension of Rule of Law was done openly in major conflagrations in Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat and Coimbatore. This requires serious debate towards increasing Constitutional governance and this cannot happen unless the parties constituting the electoral system are disciplined. Violence cannot be checked, are preventive or punitive CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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measures taken effectively by the police if one or the other major political parties indulges in violence. We have been witnesses to endemic ethnic conflicts all over the world and that is one of the reasons that with some forethought the Constitution provides for the governance of the plural societies within our country. That a re-look at the governance multi cultural societies is necessary was pointed out by Bikku Parekh in his book, ‘Re-thinking Multiculturalism’ - “Citizens cannot be committed to their political community unless it is also committed to them, and they cannot belong to it unless it accepts them as belonging to it. The political community cannot therefore expect its members to develop a sense of belonging to it unless it equally values and cherishes them in all their diversity and reflects this in its structure, policies and conduct of public affairs, self understanding and self definition. Although equal citizenship is essential for fostering a common sense of belonging, it is not enough. Citizenship is about status and rights; belonging is about being accepted and feeling welcome. Some individuals and groups might enjoy the same rights as the rest, but feel that they do not quite belong to the community or it to them. This feeling of being full citizens and yet outsiders is difficult to analyze and explain but it can be deep and real and seriously damage the quality of their citizenship and their commitment to their political community. It is caused among other things, the narrow ad exclusive manner in which wider society defines the common good, the demeaning way it talks about some of its members and dismissive way and the patronizing way it behaves towards them. Although such individuals are free in principle in its collective life, they often stay away or ghettoize themselves for fear of rejection and ridicule or out of a deep sense of alienation.”(342.) These difficulties were earlier visualized by Ambedkar. This problem has been plaguing the society all these years and on account of stagnation that has politically, socially and economically affecting the lives of the communities living together and to avoid conflicts there is in the constitution the stress has been on equality in all its facets.” That is why the Constitution imposes certain amount of Constitutional discipline. It is made mandatory for every Constitutional appointee including the elected representatives whether to Parliament or the State Legislative Assembly/Council to swear to an oath that he/she will abide by the Constitution and is set out in the Third Schedule to the Constitution Section 29A of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951 provides for Registration of political parties and in subsection (5) it stipulates that the memorandum or Rules of the party or organization shall contain specific provision that the association or body shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution as by law established, and to the principles of Socialism, Secularism and Democracy and would uphold the Sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. These provisions were brought into force on 15/6/1989. This amendment was to bring the election law in line with the Constitution. The word Socialism need not create in us the Stalinist totalitarian nightmare. Socialism is the inarticulate politics of the millions of the poor who vote these anti poor leaders in whose political menu cards peoples well-being is there but may not be served. Secularism is not ungodliness but telling us all not to assure a better after life or a better rebirth. It says please do not prevent social change by these unverifiable promises & dreams of a better after life. Secularism briefly surfaced and was attributed to one G J HOLYOAKE and was briefly talked about towards the second half the 19th century in England and disappeared after the emergence of socialist thought. In the beginning of the Industrial Revolution when sweated industry and the economy were unregulated, it appeared and religion was not able to offer any redress for the misery by a vast army of working men. One need not misinterpret it as ungodliness. It does mean that religion should not guide the politics and economics of peoples lives on earth. CLMCI

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The Shopian shame: Brutal assault rape and killing of two Kashmiri Women Prof. S.A.R. Geelani Members and activists of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners visited various parts of Kashmir for five days from 24-28 July 2009, for the following purpose: To understand the historical and cultural roots of the Kashmir problem; To study and assess the ground realities of the life of the people of Kashmir -from the cities to the far-flung inaccessible areas; To engage with the families of victims of gross and systematic abuse of human rights by the security forces -police, Para military and military; To gauge the extent of presence of the Indian armed forces and to measure the depth of impunity with which the Indian army operates throughout Kashmir, and To decipher the social, cultural, religious and political layers of the Indo-Kashmir conflict and on the basis of that understanding to suggest postulates for the resolution of the conflict, The members of the fact-finding team included academics, civil rights and political activists, namely: Prof. S. A. R. Geelani (Vice President, CRPP), Prof. Sujato Bhadra (Vice President, CRPP), Prof. Amit Bhattacharya (General Secretary, CRPP), Prof. Ravindra Goel (Delhi University), Prof. Jagmohan Singh (Voices for Freedom), Shiv Nandan (civil rights activist), Kanwarpal Singh (Dal Khalsa) and Gopal Menon (documentary film maker). The interim findings of the team and suggestions/demands are as follows: THE SHOPIAN SHAME: Members of the team visited Shopian to confirm what was already common knowledge to every resident of the small town -that the young lady Niloufer and her sister-in-law Aaisa Jan were brutally assaulted, raped and killed. We met the members of the family, the leaders of the Mushawarat Committee, and the father of the two eye witnesses -Ghulam Mohinuddin Lone and Ghulam Ahmed Lone (who were later detained by the Special Investigation Team and are still in their illegal detention), members of the Bar Association, Srinagar and residents of the town. We visited the scene of the crime along with the father and cousin of the Niloufer and witnessed the spots from where the two women were abducted, raped and killed and from where their bodies were found. Each of the people who spoke to the team members repeated with tears in their eyes that the “men in uniform” committed the brutal act. They narrated to us as to how the SP of the area, Javed Iqbal Mattoo, conspired with a section of the doctors to destroy evidence, including forensic evidence, how he repeatedly threatened the women members of the victim family, how he dismissed the act by loudly repeating, “Aise wakye to hothe hi rahten hain”. People who saw on television, as did the team members were shocked to listen to the diatribe of the Inspector General of Police, the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir and the state chief minister, Mr. Omar Abdullah shamelessly trying to dismiss it as a case of “drowning”, knowing fully well that the water CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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flowing in the stream where the bodies were found was not more than four to six inches deep. We learnt from the members of the Mushawarat Committee and Niloufer’s father that the police is still attempting to shield the barbaric perpetrators and how the SP, who was arrested for destruction of evidence is not in a police lock-up but in the confines of a police officer’s mess. The inhuman, bizarre and blatant flouting of all norms of decent human behaviour and political boldness to speak the truth is apparent, even to the blind eye. Unmindful of the agony of the victims’ family and uncaring of the people’s resistance and concern cutting across party lines and caring two hoots for deliverance of justice, the cover-up campaign is still on by the administration. People suspected and circumstances bear this out that in case the SP is released on bail and the government continues to admit the nature of the crime, these two murders (rather three, as Niloufer was on the family way) is likely to become yet another statistical addition to the long list of people who have been killed with impunity by the security forces in Kashmir. To rub salt on the wounds of the families and to brazenly demonstrate the high-handedness of the state, the government of the youngest chief minister has suspended from service Dr. Nighat, who sincerely followed the Hippocrates Oath, did not buckle under police and government pressure and who in the second postmortem declared that the two women were brutally gang raped, while those doctors who connived with the police and spoke lies continue to enjoy the patronage of the state. Nothing can be more shameful. The brutal assault and murder of Bibi Amima in Dolipora in the dead of night, in her own house by a security force personnel, who came there to commit the crime with cover from his colleagues of the same unit, is another case of increasing assaults on women in this disputed territory. Such cases of rape and harassment of women are not new. They have happened in the past in Kanun Paushpora Kupwara, Chak Saiyadpora Shopian and many other places where civil society and even may be media is not aware of. The Committee is of the view that the security forces are using Rape as a weapon to suppress the spirit of revolt and rebellion of the people of Kashmir and to exert their authority. On the basis of our on the spot study, the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners: 1.

Demands that the Indian armed forces, various other kinds of Para military forces like the CRPF, etc, should all be withdrawn without delay.

2.

Demands that all draconian laws should be repealed and withdrawn. The recommendations of the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee must be implemented and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act must be withdrawn.

3.

Denounces the detention of political leaders and seeks their immediate release.

4.

Demands that the culprits in the Shopian case should be identified and arrested.

S. A. R. Geelani, Vice President, Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners 28 July 2009, Srinagar 7

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Minorities’ Rights Moulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi, Secretary,

AIMPLB

The kind of reflection of the word ‘Right’ and ‘Rights’ that comes in our minds nowadays, was never found in the olden ages. In the past many civilizations emerged and collapsed; many kingdoms came into existence, rose to power, declined and disappeared. Among those civilizations and kingdoms, natural rights were found but not human rights among the relationships. The biggest reason for this was, there was lack of human equality among those civilizations; Human beings and their own citizens were divided into different groups, in the past, few groups were totally denied of rights. In Greek civilization the slaves were treated in par with animals, they did not have any rights. In Egyptian civilization those people who did not have any relation with the ruling class were the victims of every kind of torture, and they were not entitled to any kind of protest. The situation was some what better in Roman Empire, but with the expansion of Roman Empire, differences arose between Roman citizens and general people of Rome, and a number of those type of people emerged who were denied all kinds of rights. From the history, one more thing that comes before us is the thought of rights for human beings, emerged with the propagation and preaching of Christianity in Roman Empire. With the spread of Christianity, the interest for the study of Bible emerged and restriction on the killing of human beings written in Ten Commandments, which were given to Prophet Moses, brought great changes. The order “THOU SHALT NOT KILL”, invoke a sense of respect towards human beings and human life. The Christian courts which were established under the churches and the rules established by them, created a sense of dignity and respect towards human life. During this process, the churches underwent tremendous difficulties and pressure by the ruling class and landlords and some times had to bow their heads before the privileges of these people. Even then, the concept of respect for human life became the part of civil society. But, the feeling of high and low class among the society was not able to overcome. Whenever there is discussion on the rights of human beings, the declaration of Britain’s Magna Carta is presented as a historical event and milestone; whereas neither any right has been given to common citizen of Britain nor said anything about them in this declaration. This declaration protects the rights of landlords and elites and limits the customary rights of British kings. The subject of this declaration is neither the human being nor the common citizen; but the landlords, elites and kings. For the emergence of the concept of human rights and human beings, human history had to travel a long journey, between two great world wars and after this, the question of human rights and the concept of these thoughts arose. In the definition and formation of rights, those rights are also talked about which are now called as ‘minority rights’. Here the word minority does not mean political minority but the group of people who are permanently in the status of minority. Between this minority and majority, there is such a kind of difference, which is permanent, and this base of difference becomes their identity. This difference may be in the shape of race, colour, and religion, which becomes the unique culture and their life style. Therefore for the existence of their identity, culture and life style, they need constitutional and legal protection. With the development of theory of human rights, they were allowed to continue and develop their language, racial identity, religion and culture, which were accepted as rights of minorities and these rights are called as minority rights. Now that the period has almost changed, where it was necessary to adopt the majority culture, language, religion and belief of a particular country for the sake of citizenship. Even in USA, only the Anglo-Saxons of Europe were permitted to land, settle and get citizenship, whereas even the whites of Europe were not allowed, later this type of thinking slowly erased. USA declared itself as ‘melting pot’ and opened the doors for non-Saxons; in Canada, in the region of Cuba where French culture and language existed, they adopted the policies of cultural pluralism. Even though after these changes, nonwhites such as Africans and Asians are still prohibited in different parts of the world and in the colonies of CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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Europe; In Australia and Europe, whites have permission to settle, whereas quota is allotted for nonEuropeans. Still the whole world has not accepted cultural pluralism and discrimination based on race, colour, language and religion exists. Generally, it is thought that the minority rights will be completely respected and imposed when the world state is established which would respect these rights. This is a kind of dream that is impossible to be fulfilled. In case of minority rights one thing should be kept in mind that the rights are not for a single man, it is for the whole community. These rights are nothing but assurances and safeguards. The trend to accept their rights and to give capacity for their laws and to include sections is developing, and it is considered as a quality of a civilized state. For the practical implementation of minority rights the atmosphere of tolerance and mutual co-existence is necessary. If the tolerance does not exist, then all the assurances will go in vain. To promote the tolerance of race, colour, creed, sex, language, religion, culture and faith, to live with the minority groups, to respect their rights, and to work together for the development of the country and its people, it is necessary to improve the sensitivity, emotions, theories and practical implementation. Without creating this type of atmosphere, the practical implementation of minority rights is very difficult. For this it is necessary to take strict action against those who are promoting intolerance so that the tolerance and the indifferences among the race, colour, language, culture, religion, faith, and nature becomes the important properties of culture. Every state, society and group should try to achieve this target; only then, the world will see the complete respect of minority rights in practical manner. It should always be kept in mind that the minority rights is the obligation of the majority; where the majority fulfills these responsibilities and practically shows the tolerance and co- existence, only then positive circumstances of minority rights could be created. For practically applying minority rights, one more thing is worth considering that the human rights which are called as fundamental freedoms and fundamental rights, without them this right cannot take practical shape. Without fundamental rights and fundamental freedom, which all the citizens and individuals possess, without those minorities rights are totally meaningless. Among these fundamental rights, first right is the right to life. There is a saying that “If there is life, there is world”; lots of meaning and explanation is hidden in it. From the core of this right, another right i.e. Right to security comes in. without this right, is getting minorities rights possible? Where right to life has not been accepted and where security and development is not guaranteed, there minorities and people relating to minority community will always have sword hanging on their heads and they will live in the shadow of fear. Right to life also includes that every person should be given fair chance of developing their personalities and talents by developing, preserving and protecting their present culture. Right to life is not just to keep relation between body and life but also to make life aim full till the end, develop physical personality and give every possible chance to enjoy life, in this right one can live a descent life as a member of civil society and also chance should be there to take life to the suitable standard and make it independent. Because of being first among all rights and the base of other rights and to assure the right to life, proper security and safeguards are needed. To give meaning to minority rights, all should be benefited by these rights including minorities. The same thing can also be said of right to equality where it is first condition for system of justice and compulsory condition to develop the human personality. Here the explanation is important that, right to equality is not just equality in the eyes of law and before the court, but also includes equality in expressing and developing personality. To get the benefits of these chances no conditions and restrictions should be implemented on the basis of caste, creed, colour, language, religion and sex, including minorities, all should be given the chance. In case of minority rights basic rights and independence cannot be neglected. Minorities will find good atmosphere to maintain their culture, religion and belief where every one including minorities will have basic rights and basic independence. In this movement it becomes important to check basic rights and independence at world level. CLMCI

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Sachar Committee and Recommendations Dr. Rafath Seema, Gen. Secretary, Nisa The central government had appointed a high level committee on 9th March 2005 for the elaborate and extensive study of the Social, Economic. Educational, Employment conditions of Muslims in India, as there are no proper information to bring out schemes and policies for the elimination of backwardness and upliftment of Muslim community. The committee was headed by Sri. Rajender Sachar, Retd. Chief Justice of High court and Ex-national president of PUCL, the other members include, Sri Syed Hamid, Dr. T.K. Umen, Sri M. C. Basith, Dr. Rakesh Basant, Dr. Akhtar Majeed, Dr. Abu Saleh Shareef. They presented its report to the central government by November 2006, with whatever resources available to them. Sachar Committee has done deep and extensive research on the issues such as population, education, health, employment, Bank Loans, social and civic amenities, poverty, social welfare scheme for which the committee was primarily dependent not only on population census of 2001 but also on NSSO (National Sample Survey Organization) 61st round (2004-2005), and compared it with 55th round (1999-2000). Not only this whenever necessity arose they also gathered information from various state government and central government departments for the purpose. Sachar committee examined the entire population census. It explained according to the region and religion wise. It is assumed that the growth rate of Indian population is declining, which can be seen in every religion. But this change started little late among Muslims. The report clearly states that in 1961 Muslims were 10.7 percent in country’s population and 13.4 percent according to 2001 census; growth rate of population is declining in Muslims like in other communities and if this continues to be so then Muslim population will be at a standstill with 18 to 19 percent in country’s population. Sachar committee believes that the rate of growth of population will be equal among all the social classes by the end of this century. According to the population census of 2001 the literacy rate in SC, ST is 52.2 %, Muslims 59.1%, and others 70.8%. The percentage of school going Muslim children is far less when compared to Hindu upper caste and backward classes but good if compared to SC, ST children in 1999-2000. By 2004-2005 the percentage of SC/ST children going to school crossed the percentage of Muslim school going children. 25% of Muslim children between the age group of 6 to 14 years never saw school in their life. The situation is not so worse in any other social group including SC/ST. likewise it is seen that the quality of education of Muslims is worse than SC/ST in rural areas. In countries Population 3.8 crores of people i.e. 6% of population, who have crossed 20 years of age, possess one or the other degree/diploma. Among them 70 out of 1000, possess technical qualification. On the other hand, among Muslim population, people who are above 20 years of age, only 10 out of 1000 possess degree or diploma. About the information of IIM, IIT, there are 4,743 students in IIM, in which only 63 students are Muslims (1.3%). In IIT there are 27,161 students in which only 894 are Muslims (3.3%), the condition is same even in famous medical colleges; there are only 4 percent Muslim students among them. Sachar Committee gathered information of Madarsas as well. Accordingly, 66 percent of Muslim children go to government schools, 30% of them go to private schools and only 4 % of them go to Madarsas for education. This is 7% in North India and 1.7% in South India. The committee has shown with statistics that even though all Muslims mother tongue is not Urdu, the people whose mother tongue is Urdu are not given educational facility in proper way to study in their mother tongue. Only in Maharastra there is equilibrium between the people who consider Urdu as their mother tongue, and muslim children studying in Urdu medium. In Karnataka 70% of Muslims consider Urdu as their mother tongue where as only 45% children are studying in Urdu medium. In Andhra Pradesh 80% of Muslims who consider Urdu as their mother tongue only 20% of them are studying in Urdu Medium. In Bihar 60% of Muslims belong to Urdu language and their children studying in Urdu medium is 30%. The situation of Uttar Pradesh is worst, 45% of Muslims mother tongue is Urdu and only 2 % of them are studying in Urdu medium. Sachar CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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committee noted that the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were cooperative whereas the North Indian state governments were reluctant/ negligent in giving information to the committee. Sachar Committee explained the situation of employment among Muslims by dividing it into three categories i.e. self-employment, causal employment and regular employment. The committee has explained that majority of Muslims depend on self-employment, few on casual employment, and some on regular employment. Among the upper caste Hindus first preference is self-employment (including agriculture), second comes regular employment and third is casual employment (daily labour). among SC, ST it is casual employment (daily labour) first, second is self-employment and third is regular employment. Even among Hindu BC selfemployment is first, and other two provide same level of employment to them. In the case of regular employment the situation of Muslims is worse compared to all other social groups. As the regular employment opportunities are available only in urban areas, the percentage of the population of urban areas is taken separately; 49% of employees and labour from upper caste have regular/permanent employment, 40% in SC ST, 36% in BC and only 27% in Muslims. As Muslim women are restricted to go out and work as per their tradition, the percentage of these women who do the work with their own strength at their homes is more when compared to other groups’ women. Sachar committee has commented that this work is in the form of sub-contract and both the health and the income of these women may be affected badly. The committee has gathered the information about the percentage of Muslims in police and army as well. In defense, the percentage of upper caste Hindus in various posts is 52 %, BC is 23%, SC, ST 12% where as the percentage of Muslims is only 4%. In central police departments, the percentage of upper caste Hindus is 42%, BC, SC, ST are 23%, whereas the percentage of Muslims is only 6%. In state Police departments, the percentage of upper caste Hindu is 37%, BC is 21%, SC, ST is 26%, whereas the percentage of Muslims is only 7%. Sachar committee gathered information even on the issue of bank loans. As giving loans to minorities is one of the aims in the policy of Government, therefore, Reserve Bank provided statistics of the bank loans given to the Muslim community to the committee. If the districts are taken separately, where Muslim population is more than average i.e. 51.4%, but the percentage of the loans given by the banks (both public and private) to them is only 11.6%. In one of the districts i.e. Hyderabad where the percentage of Muslims is 41.2% the percentage of bank loans comes to 3.2%. In the districts where the population is between 26 to 40 percent and the average Muslims are 34.2% the bank loans to them is 19.3%. In the districts where the percentage of Muslims is between 22 to 26 percent and the average Muslim population is 24.1%, the percentage of bank loans to them is only 6.3%. As Muslims are more in self-employment and small-scale business, Sachar Committee gathered information about small-scale industry loans and NABARD loans as well. The loans given particularly for this purpose by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) from 2000-2006, only 1.5% have been granted for Muslims. rural development being one of the main objectives of NABARD, in the years 2004-05, 2005-06 only 3.2% of loans was provided to Muslim community. In investment sector only 3.9% of loans went to Muslim community. This percentage is far less than the percentage of Muslim population. Sachar Committee also examined the social and economic facilities. Under this section it discussed about the social and economic facilities such as schools, offices, roads, power, drinking water, travel etc are provided to Muslims on par with others or not. Committee has declared that the social and economic facilities are less, when compared with the population of rural and urban areas. If taken state wise, the education system is worse in the rural areas of West Bengal, where Muslims are in big number. In case of health system Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh states are the worst. In the same states, the Post and Telegram facilities are not fine and worst in the rural areas where Muslim population is more. In all the matters, the South Indian states and Maharashtra are placed in better position. In the case of safe drinking water, only 25% of the rural population is provided with safe drinking water whereas only 15% of rural Muslims are given this facility. Sachar Committee has also analysed the issue of poverty. To compare poverty among various groups, 11

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the monthly basic expenditure per head was taken as an example. According to 2004-05 census, the monthly expenditure per head among upper caste Hindus is Rs.1023/, among BC it is Rs.646/, among Muslims it is Rs.635/ and among SC, ST it is Rs.520/. If taken urban areas wise, Muslims and SC, ST are equal, their monthly expenses per head is Rs.800/, among BC it is Rs.950/, among upper castes it is Rs.1470/. Moreover, the percentage of Muslims among extreme poor classes is high, the Muslims living in urban areas, with monthly expenditure of Rs. 350/ per head is 17%, the percentage among SC, ST in the same areas is 15.7%. According to the census of 2004-05, 22.7% of population is below poverty line in India. From that 8.7% is from upper caste, 21% is from BC, 31% is from Muslims and 35% is from SC, & ST; and again urban areas wise, the percentage of Muslims who are below poverty line is more than that of SC & ST; the percentage of SC & ST who are below poverty line is 36.4% whereas the percentage of Muslims below poverty line is 38.4%. Sachar Committee has examined that the poverty of Muslims is concentrated more in urban areas. Sachar committee pulled out the statistics of the government employment and explained it. The percentage of Muslims in state government employment is 6.3%, 4.5% In Railways, 2.2% in Banks, 5% in postal department, 3.2% in security forces, 4.7% in Universities, and 10.8% in state government departments. The percentage of Muslims in IAS and IPS is 3% and 4% respectively. The Committee also acquired information on the teaching and non-teaching staff of the Universities. The percentage of upper castes in teaching staff is 45%, and 47% in non-teaching staff, BC are 35% in teaching staff and 18% in non-teaching staff, SC, ST are 7.4% in Teaching staff and 16.9% in non-teaching staff, where as Muslims are 3.7% in teaching and 5.4% in non-teaching staff. Sachar committee also tried to gather information on the issue of social welfare schemes. it tried to gather information on the socio welfare schemes which would benefit the groups such as poor, children, women, farmers etc. the committee was able to give only partial information about the welfare schemes of all the states because the beneficiaries did not mention their religion. In our country, on every issue committees are constituted. But in most of the cases the committees they do not investigate completely, or else they would not be in favour of people. But as Sachar was the national president of PUCL, a rights organization, he is well aware of the rights of the common people and also has respect towards them. Therefore Sachar committee has got such importance. These recommendations will be in discussion for a long time. Because of unavailability of information related to the people’s lives and governance, of different social groups, it was difficult for the committee to bring out information about the help, people get from the government and the implementation of government schemes. Therefore, the committee suggested that a National Information Bank should be formed wherein it should gather information of various social groups and the same should be provided by these banks. In this bank the conditions of various groups, to what extent the government schemes are reaching, how many people are benefiting, such kinds of information should also be provided. If this information is available it will be easy to know how these schemes are implemented. Not only government officials but also others like intellectuals, members of Human rights groups, cooperative societies and so on have to form committees and see which society is getting benefited to what extent from the schemes. And this committee’s main purpose should be to give suggestions to the government on how better the government schemes can be implemented. Taking into consideration the example of “Race Relations Act” of Trinity, Sachar committee has recommended to set up a commission called “Equal Opportunities Commission” to take up complaints whenever minorities rights are violated. Even though National Human Rights Commission and State Human Rights Commission exists, to look into complaints related to unconstitutional discrimination, keeping in view the problems faced by these commissions in proceeding the cases, the committee has recommended the above commission. Sachar committee has observed that to gain benefit in development, involvement in governance is necessary; otherwise one cannot achieve benefits of development. at every level upper caste has higher hand, on the basis of population, the constitutional guarantees given to SC/ST, gave them an opportunity to represent CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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themselves from Gram Panchayats to Parliament. BCs and Women possess reservations from Gram Panchayats to the Zilla Parishads. But Muslims do not have reservations at any level. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, Minorities have co-opted only in municipalities and co-operative societies. Sachar committee while welcoming this effort, stressed the need to make Muslims part of the governance. In the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal, Muslims are in more number in the places reserved for SC, according to the statistics given by the committee. The committee has sought to consider this situation in the de-limitation of the constituencies. Sachar Committee while recognizing the facts of Muslims being backward in the field of education, the responsibility of the government given by the constitution, to provide free education to all up to 14 years of age, is very important in case of Muslims. It has asked to establish Urdu medium schools and provide textbooks to the students in Urdu. It also said that, the diversity in society should be reflected in textbooks, and it is necessary to see that the curriculum should not have anything against the Muslims. The training given to the teachers should have the concept of diversity to teach in the broader aspect. Sachar committee has found out that even in higher education the representation of Muslims is less and recommended that UGC should provide more grants to educational institutions and universities according to the social diversity. The Committee also looked into the Minority educational institutions of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states, and found that these colleges are out of reach to poor students. The government should provide facilities and financial assistance to these institutions according to the seats allotted by these institutions to the poor Muslims. Even though the percentage of students studying in Madrasas is very less, they should be regarded as high school students and provided facility to get them selves admitted in high school or colleges. Sachar Committee has recommended that in the field of education, many more IIT and Polytechnic colleges should be established in the areas where the Muslim population is high. As most o the Muslims depend on self-employment and daily labour wages for their livelihood, Sachar Committee has recommended implementation of second labour commission recommendations which will be more useful for Muslims. The institutions which provide employment to the Muslims have to be encouraged by giving them same incentives. While giving job vacancy advertisements in Urdu, if the institutions also announce that their institute is equal opportunities institute, it will be a good opportunity for the backward classes. In the areas where Muslim population is more, at least one Muslim official should be there in Police stations and hospitals. Even though after giving the detailed picture of the economic conditions of Muslims in India, the committee wondered whether the government has taken any special measures to eliminate the backwardness. Committee has found that Muslims condition is equal to Sc, and are backward than BC. The government has provided all kind of facilities such as reservations, scholarships, Special hostels, residential schools to SC, ST and BC but the same steps are not taken for the Muslims. Because of which, there is no progress in the economic and social conditions of Muslims. Reservation is one of the ways for the achievement of equal opportunities. In India Muslims are divide into four types. Among Muslim community they are recognized in three groups – Ashraf, Ajlaf, and Arzal. Based on this division Muslims should be provided reservations and other special rights according to the suggestion given by Sachar Committee. For the building of social development Muslims can be recognized into three groups. The 2nd group Ajlafs rights should be equal to BC rights, the third group Arzal should be recognized equal to SC, because they belong to the traditional occupations. In reservation category they should be recognized as most backward classes. Sachar Committee has done deep and extensive study, but the recommendations look like simple recommendations. But these recommendations promote the debate of achieving rights of minorities in whole in different fields instead of individual benefits. These will benefit minorities in future. Therefore the recommendations should be implemented wholly but not in fraction. CLMCI

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About Magistrate Tamang: Ishrat Jehan Encounter Case Vasudha Nagaraj, Advocate, Fellow at Anveshi I cannot resist but recount this account of exemplary courage and commitment of a Magistrate working in the Metropolitan Courts of Ahmedabad. He is none other than Magistrate Tamang who has been in the news for the past few days. Brief facts: We all know about the encounter of Ishrat Jehan and three others in the outskirts of the city of Ahmedabad, which took place in June, 2004. Soon after the encounter, there were enquiries by human rights groups, which declared that it was a cold-blooded killing and not an encounter. To counter the demands the Crime Branch ordered a Magistrate to enquire into the matter. It has been reported that no Magistrate was willing to stick his neck into this issue. Finally, on 12 August 2009 the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) ordered Magistrate Tamang to conduct the inquiry. The latter was supposed to conduct this inquiry under S 176 CrPC. This is the section of law in which a Magistrate is empowered to hold an inquiry into the cause of death whenever a person dies while in police custody or when it is a death in doubtful circumstances. Generally, under this section of law, Magistrates record dying declarations of women who are dying and lying in the hospitals. Based upon this formal letter from the CMM’s office, Magistrate Tamang commenced his inquiry, and completed it within 25 days. As part of this inquiry, it is reported that he read through forensic reports, postmortem reports, FIRs, and several other witness depositions. There were 1159 documents to be read. Soon after, Magistrate Tamang wrote up his report concluding his inquiry. In the report, he stated that the encounter was a fake encounter and that Ishrat Jehan and three others were killed in cold blood. He held responsible 21 police officers for the killing including the encounter specialist Vanzara. The report runs into 243 pages and it is completely handwritten. On 7 September 2009, Magistrate Tamang submitted the report to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. On the same day, Mukul Sinha, the veteran civil liberties lawyer who has defended hundreds of Muslims in the riot cases in Gujarat, came to know about the submission of this report. He applied for a certified copy, got a copy the same evening, and released it to the media. Perhaps, Mukul Sinha thought that if he let go of this opportunity, the report would never be made public. We all know the chaos that has resulted once the report got into the hands of the media. The Gujarat government appealed to the High Court saying that the report was illegal and that Magistrate Tamang had gone beyond his jurisdiction to make such statements. The Gujarat High Court has stayed the report, passed severe strictures against the Magistrate, and also ordered disciplinary action. Very rarely one can speak in exulting tones about the actions of a Magistrate. Finally, here is a case in point. For a Magistrate who is on the lowest rung of the judiciary to have taken such a step is so amazing. These are officers of the judiciary who preside in dark dingy court halls, often overburdened, understaffed, and write their judgments in equally dingy chambers. The accused who come to their courts are accused of petty offences, whose imprisonment cannot go beyond two years. These magistrates generally have just one attender and come on their own scooter or motorcycle to the court, or a group of Magistrates are brought in court vans. Their orders and judgments are mostly overruled by the higher courts. The best lawyers never come to their courts. There is not much flourish or performance in these courts. Even if their judgments are upheld, we never get to know their contents. It is only the High Court and the Supreme Court judges whose judgments get published and widely reported too. It is also common knowledge that many of the Magistrates are reluctant to follow the rule of law and end up being complicit with the police in denying rights to the accused. In such a context for Magistrate Tamang to write a 243 pages handwritten order and indicting 21 police officers becomes history. It is one thing for a High Court judge or a Supreme Court judge to produce such reports and make such observations. But the implications are very different when a Magistrate presiding and living in Ahmedabad decides to protest by not just affirming the rule of law but also pushing the limits of the law. Magistrate Tamang would have known that his career in the judiciary was over and that he has invited the wrath of the state, the higher courts and the accused police. He surely would have made up his mind, exercised a conscious choice to interpret S 176 CrPC in a manner that would enable justice to be done for Ishrat Jehan and her three friends. The Internet has already put up his profile. He is from the Gorkha community from Darjeeling but settled in Ahmedabad since his birth. He has a wife and a nine-year-old child. It is reported that the Bar Association at Ahmedabad considers him as a honest and straightforward Judge. CLMCI CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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Illegal detention and torture: The other side story of serial blasts in Hyderabad Kaneez Fathima, Activist, CLMCI The serial blasts which rocked the Hyderabad city in the year 2007, the first major one at Macca Masjid and subsequent police firing on innocent people and twin blasts one at Lumbini Park and another at Gokul Chat (eatery) on the same day. Both in the Mecca Masjid blast as well as in the police firing, several persons died, all of who were Muslims. Large numbers of people were killed in the twin blasts, leaving many severely injured, this time Hindus and Muslims both, and possibly persons of other faiths as well. Police started randomly picking up the youths, especially Muslims to mention, from twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad (not a single youth from any other community). What did this ‘picking up’ mean? It was not arrest as such, but they were abducted, kidnapped, which is otherwise called as ‘Illegal Detention’. Immediately after the blasts, the police started making claims that some organization referred to as HUJI, or some such name or some other militant group was responsible. The reports filed by the police with the State Human Rights Commission etc. thereafter, show the police versions to be palpably false, as also contradictory, and constituting not only attempts to mislead judicial and quasi judicial authorities, but also an exercise in fabrication of false evidence. This is established from a comparative study of what the police version is and what the irrefutable video recordings etc, establish as true. Their reports have shown a deliberate desire to mislead the administration and the quasi-judicial inquiring authorities as to what actually happened. The frisking operations by the police continued extensively for the three months, after the blasts, in 2007. Large numbers of Muslim youth were illegally detained in unknown places, some remanded to judicial custody. The police had terrorized detainees and their families, inflicted torture, and fabricated records, resorting to illegalities in detention and confinement, continuing detention to cover up the evidence of their violations of law until the marks of their inflicted torture heal, and/or so on. Under the pretext of investigations, these youths were targeted by the police. The police also used unprintable abusive words telling those who screamed out “Allah, Allah” in extreme pain to call out “Bhagwaan” “hey Ram” instead, and in some cases went to the extent of telling them to drink urine when asked for water to drink. All the above these were the systematic violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights, both human and civil rights. While under illegal detention and wrongful confinement, they were tortured physically and mentally, administered electric shocks, stripped naked, abused with filthy language, humiliated, sleep denied, threatened of abduction and rape of women of their households, threatened of false implication of their own selves and their family members in terrorism cases, threatened of killing them in fake encounters, long periods of torture, including by being hung either by the hands or upside down by the legs for long periods, brutally beaten with sticks, rubber and leather objects, being made to lie down and beaten, piercing of needles into the sensitive area around the nipples, having heavy objects hung from the detainees’ private parts, firing ammunition near the ears of the detainees and making claims that the next rounds of fir would be into the heads of the detainees, administering electric shocks to the ear lobes, nipples and the private parts (penis and scrotum) and so on. In spite of independent report secured by the Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Commission, which caused it to send recommendations to the government in the matter, and reports in the media, no action has been taken by the Government to address the violations committed. Immediately on any horrific event, the police made irresponsible announcements as to who is responsible, then proceeding with that mindset to indiscriminately and unlawfully detain a number of persons and by torture, intimidation, deprivation of human rights, humiliation etc., coerce them into making “confessions” which are then used to implicate them as well as others. It is submitted that, immediately after an event like this, it takes some time to ascertain what was the type of explosive, triggering device, equipment, material used, the modus operandi, etc., and until some 15

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hours after the event at least, it is unusual for any investigative agency to start naming persons allegedly responsible for the events. But the police immediately made claims irrespective of these scientific processes. Then, the police project a case as “solved”, whereas there is only a lull between events. In this way, countless lives have been routinely destroyed, and Indian citizens with constitutionally guaranteed rights were illtreated and their rights violated. Before producing them in front of magistrates, they were held in secret places akin to torture camps, till the marks of injury began fading, giving them heavy doses of pain killers and cautioned them of more severe adverse consequences if they revealed the torture. These details were highlighted in several reports including the report by Advocate Ravi Chander, appointed by the A.P. State Minorities Commission, the report by the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, the fact finding committee that went to the Cherlapally jail and also many press reports. And yet apparently there were no questions by the learned magistrates from the detainees as to how they were treated from the time of arrest to the production, nor any question as to why the production was always in the night times, when lawyers would not be present. None of the family members were informed about the arrests or illegal detention for more than 10-25 days. All the detainees were subjected to third degree torture methods. They were from the poor background, where in most of the cases, the detainee himself was the sole bread winner of the family. None of them were in a position even to afford basic legal resources. Mr. Ram Jethmalani, the renowned Supreme Court lawyer, went through all the details and openly expressed his views in public hearing that the cases that youth were charged with were totally irrelevant and baseless to the context of bomb blasts, offered legal help to the detainees. K.G. Kannabiran spoke out against the bankruptcy of the police, state and bureaucracy and said that it was necessary to raise a strong protest against such violations. Eminent Gandhian and social activist Ms. Nirmala Deshpande (late) also visited the families of the detainees and expressed her solidarity and not only this it was she who had raised the issue at national level and forwarded the detailed reports to National Minorities Commission (NCM) and to Prime Minister filed by the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee and by a fact-finding commission set up by the AP State Minorities Commission. It would have been impossible for the detainees to bring the details to the attention of the outside world, had it not been for the fact that because of repeated complaints by several concerned civil and rights groups and civil society organizations, the AP State Minorities Commission decided to appoint an advocate as advocate commissioner to visit the jail where the detainees had been confined to and take along with that commissioner, a medical specialist with expertise in forensic science, in order to assess the truth of police excesses and high handedness. Considering that almost three weeks or more had passed after the torture was inflicted on the detainees, the medical evidence of the same even at that late date on their bodies demonstrates and establishes how severe the injuries would have been to be perceptible despite a threeweek healing period. The psychological scars and trauma would be impossible to determine, and constitute incalculable damage. All the youth were from very poor economic backgrounds—the list of occupations include welding, wood carving, sale of spare parts, driving auto-rickshaws or cars, small repair works etc. None of them was above 30, and the youngest was no more than 18 or 19. It is also clear that their detention and the treatment meted out to them at the hands of the police have set up entire families for not only economic, but physical, mental and social destruction. The experience common to all these families, across the economic spectrum, is of living in fear and constant uncertainty. To add to this is the social stigma attached to them as a result of these illegal detentions; in most cases, relatives have broken off all contact at a time when they most need support. One cannot hold them responsible for this, because they are legitimately afraid that associating with these families may have consequences for their own. After all, most of these young men seem to have been picked up because of a slight or suspected association with some other suspected youth. No concrete reasons or proof has been provided by the police for these arrests. This creates the impression that they can do whatever they please, and pick up anybody on some ‘suspicion’. CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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The police have been unrelenting in their attempts at intimidation. Not only families, but organizations and individuals who have been part of support-groups have also been kept under surveillance and questioned. A four member team of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) had visited Hyderabad on 4-5 February 2008 to enquire into the complaints against authorities in Andhra Pradesh for allegedly targeting Muslim youth in the state. The NCM team visited the Cherlapally prison and in their report they observe that “The NCM team noticed that in the list of detainees provide by the prison authorities the letters ‘ISI’ figured alongside each name. Neither the prison authorities nor the concerned minister nor even the high ranking police officials could explain this reference”. NCM also noted that “action should b taken against those who failed to carry out their responsibilities within the frame work of law and established procedures”. In its recommendations the NCM has said that “In view of the seriousness of the allegations against the police, and the less-than satisfactory responses given by them, the NCM team urges the union government to direct the CBI to enquire into all the three incidents of bomb blasts in the city in 2007. As of now, only the Macca Masjid blast case is being investigated by the CBI”. The bail petitions filed by the advocates in the Trial courts/ session’s court were rejected thrice. Then after that the bail petition was filed in high court for one person by Advocate Balagopal and was successful to secure the bail. Following this the bail petitions for other detainees were also filed, and slowly all the youths secured bail. The media always reported that these youths were booked in the cases of Bomb blasts, but the detainees’ were actually booked in the conspiracy cases. The allegations made by the police against the accused are not connected to charges framed against them in the case. The police and intelligence created a panic atmosphere, by frequenting the Courts with bomb squads, frisking the Court premises with dogs etc and indulging in baseless scare-mongering and panic-creation tactics particularly, when the cases of detainees came up for hearing, bail etc. As part of torture, one should even not forget about the Narco-Analysis tests. The manner in which the Narco -Analysis tests had been forced upon these youth, further violating their rights. The tests, which have been discarded throughout the world as inhuman and unscientific has of late been lifting its ugly head in the Indian criminal justice system and is being used passionately by the over-zealous police and unscrupulous members of the medical fraternity. Narco analysis tests also violate the right to consent and right to silence of the accused and besides being unscientific and risky, are also violative of established medical ethics. In these cases, the NarcoAnalysis tests were performed on the 5 youth in two rounds at Bangalore. In the first round, the tests were conducted on all these youth. In the second round, two of them were again subject to these tests. Even after completion of these ‘truth-seeking” tests, the over-zealous Hyderabad Police kept on interrogating and questioning the youth on various aspects, including why some of them are involved with civil liberties issues or associated with any such groups or activists? They also interrogated them as to why famous Muslim personalities and civil liberties activists were raising their voice for their sake and defending their rights. The 26 youths booked under the cases of Cr. No. 198/2007and Cr. No. 75/2007 and Cr.No100/2007, were acquitted by the 7th Additional sessions judge of Nampally court and dismissed the cases for the reason that the special investigation team of the police had not provided any evidence or proof to establish the charges against these people. Although the youths detained, tortured, and arrested by the police are all acquitted by the courts, still the cases of the blast in Macca Masjid in may 2007 and the twin blasts at Lumbini park and Gokul chat in august 2007 still remain unresolved. After two years of completion of macca masjid blast, subsequent police firing and twin blasts, we can say that Muslims were targeted by taking the advantage of blasts and in the name of investigation of blasts. No doubt, blasts were terrorist act by some unknown terrorists, but on the other hand the illegal detention, torture and implication of innocent Muslim youths were also a terrorist act by the well known anti Muslim police officers. Blast victims got some relief from the government, but here in the case of arresting, torturing of Muslim youths and for spoiling their future, government of A.P just washed off its hands by saying sorry. Therefore, Government cannot excuse itself by just apologizing for whatever happened, instead it is their responsibility to compensate the torture victims in par with the blasts victims and rehabilitate them. CLMCI 17

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Poverty and Wealth A. Srinivas, Human Rights Activist Among the developing countries, India stands in the second position, since six decades, on which way is this Indian Democracy moving? Answer to this is, on one side increase in poverty and on the other side increase in assets being centralized in the hands of few, this is our democracy. United Nations Organizations (UNO) has long back reported as, “The absence of income is not the only reason for poverty, but non-availability of facilities such as education, health, proper employment, absence of peoples’ participation in politics is also poverty.” But in India caste is also one of the undeniable reasons for poverty. The World Bank did research in various countries considering the peoples earning of 1.5 dollars per day as norm for the study of poverty, but in the past only 1 dollar was considered as criterion but later it was revised to 1.5 Dollars. The estimation of Indian poverty data is based on this study. There are 140 crores of people world wide, whose daily earnings are less than 1.2 dollars (approximately 55 rupees). Wherein, Indian population is more than 100 crores, 45 crores 60 lakhs of these kinds of people are found in India. According to Arjun Sen Gupta committee, 80% of the people live depending on Rs. 20 per day. Due to the drastic increase in the rates of essential commodities from 2005 onwards, the life has become burden to the lower middle class and middle class people as well. 20 crores of people sleep with empty stomach everyday because they do not have anything to eat. To eradicate hunger, India is in the 94th position, and is backward than the neighboring countries such as China and Pakistan. In India out of 100 new born infants, 67 of them die within a year, 93 of them die within 5 years. One of the reasons according to 2004 report is, out of Gross national Income, only a small percentage is spent on peoples health. Another thing is out of 194 countries, only 4 countries are spending less than us on health. We are not even in the position of spending 2% of GDP on health. One, out of five children dying world wide, within five years of age is from our country. According to UNICEF report, ten lakhs of children die every year. In our country 5 lakhs of infants die within 28 days, 60% of women deliver at homes; 78 thousand of women die during pregnancy and delivery. India is in top position in the case of child labour. 12.6 million Children’s childhood is being destroyed, who are working in various sectors. Poverty is seed bed for child labour. Among them children of rural areas are working as agricultural labour and bonded labour. In urban areas 58% of children are working in hazardous industries. In the education field, among the 100 children admitted in 1st class, only 53% of them reach till 10th class, and 38% reach till degree level. Only 7% of the students are studying higher education (IIM, IIT, MBA). In fact where did the development and wealth go which was achieved in 60 years? What happened to the efforts, resources and wealth earned by crores of people? A new group of upper middle class emerged in India, which is in 2nd position among the developing countries. Multi storied buildings appeared in big number. Salaries are increasing, therefore consumerism also increased. IT, BPO sectors created jobs on big scale. The things seen such as resorts, hotels, corporate hospitals, shopping malls, international schools, foreign tours, modern cars, mobiles are only the assets. The biggest exploitation known in the Human history which got publicity during the time of 2009 elections is of the black money hidden in Swiss bank. 1,50,000 crores dollars i.e. Rs.75,00,000 (seventy five lakhs of crores) of Indian black money is in Swiss bank. This lakhs of crores of money, which is earned in illegal ways by political leaders, corporate, business sectors and corrupted higher officials, is hidden in Swiss bank since many years. Apart from this, still thousands of crores of black money is in our country itself. Our foreign loan is more than 12,50,000 crores, which means the black money in Swiss bank is 5 times more than that of the Indian foreign loan. In this lakhs of crores of money more than 100 crores is of Indians. It was pretended that the efforts are being done to bring back money from Swiss bank. But it seems the UPA government is not interested in doing so. Our constitution builders clearly stated that the wealth should be decentralized; if wealth is consolidated then the rights provided by the state will be violated. Contrary to this, all the money went into the hands of few people. According to the Forbes Magazine, (Millionaires list) in this list not only Indians names got place but their number as millionaires also increased. Ours is a starvation country, where more than six lakhs of farmers and weavers attempted suicide and died country wide, who is responsible for these deaths? Who is responsible for this poverty? The statistics clearly visible to us are in the form of declining faith of people on electoral political system. The reason for all this is, if The World Bank, American policies are one aspect; in the matter of destructive development, all the parties possess same type of political acceptance in our country. Party agenda are different, faces are different, but the policies are the same. There is an urgent need to make people aware of their rights and to make people conscious of the importance of the constitutional values and benefits. CLMCI CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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Violence against women and acid attacks M. Mandakini, LLM, Activist, CLMCI Now-a-days acid attacks are on rise in India and particularly in Andhra Pradesh. Some sensational cases also happened which grabbed media attention that lead to the encounter of the accused. India being a signatory to the Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Violence against Women, India has to be committed to achieving the objectives of the Declaration. Article 1 of CEADAW defines the term “violence against women” as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. Acid attacks are brutal form of violence against women. Young girls and women are the common victims of this crime of acid attacks. Motives vary but are mostly obsession, jealousy, suspected infidelity, husband wanting to re-marry, sexual non-cooperation etc. Often the offenders are the persons known to the victims. This crime has long-term consequences. It comprises physical disfiguration and often immobility and psychological complications. Even a small amount of acid i.e. Sulphuric or Nitric - melts the skin tissues, often with the bones underneath exposed or dissolved. It has a disastrous impact on the lives of the victims psychologically, socially and financially. Acid violence is not just an isolated human rights violation but it is gender violence, part of a broader type of cruelty deep-rooted in the world. Popular televised serials and films reinforce the idea by repeatedly portraying acid attacks. Perhaps the most dangerous thing about acid attacks is the fear that they create. With just a few bucks, anyone can buy a weapon that can ruin another person’s life in just a few seconds. A PIL (Public Interest Litigation) was filed by a Delhi-based acid attack victim, Laxmi, in the Supreme Court in 2007. To make the Centre realize the seriousness of growing incidents of acid attack on girls, the Supreme Court asked whether India could emulate its neighbour Bangladesh, which has already enacted a three-tier law to protect and rehabilitate victims in this case. Aparna Bhat the Victims advocate suggested that the amendment or the law would have to be supplemented with guidelines for supporting the victims of the acid attacks and a mechanism for granting them compensation, as has been proposed for rape victims. She said there was a need to constitute a committee that would look into measures the treatment, aftercare and rehabilitation of the victims of acid attacks, as the medical treatment and surgery costs in the aftermath of such an attack are extremely high. The PIL has also sought a direction ensuring that acid in all forms becomes a scheduled banned chemical as its easy availability has led to increased incidents of this extremely vengeful, cruel offence. The government of India has told the apex court of the country that there is no need for any special legislation to deter acid-attackers. A rigorous implementation of the existing provisions would do. Acid attacks, especially on women are reported regularly form various parts of the country. It said provisions for drawing of schemes for compensation and rehabilitation for victims of crime, including victims of acid attack, were incorporated in the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2006 and once this was made into a law, problems relating to rehabilitation of acid attack victims would be addressed adequately. On the contrary, the Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Ms. Sabitha Indra Reddy said that a new legislation will be introduced in the next assembly that would seek a minimum imprisonment of seven years for those who carry out acid attacks including against women. Is a special law necessary to deal with the acid attack cases? Will it make any difference in the control of the crime? We have enough laws and this crime can be put under section 307 IPC which is attempt to murder as done in few cases. Acid attack cannot be treated as an act of rage because the offenders plan scrupulously the type of acid to be used, the quantity, the time and the venue of the attack. Insensitivity of the police, the importance given by the judiciary to minor contradictions and lapses in the prosecution’s statements cause the offender’s easy escape from conviction. 19

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Case study: I along with other did fact-finding in the case of acid attack after going through the news in the newspapers. The victim Shruthi Mittal, suffered serious burn injuries as her estranged husband threw acid on her on the afternoon of October 24, 2007. The brief facts of the case are: The victim, Shruthi aged 18 years was married to the accused Bajrang in July 2007. Even though her disinterest in the marriage, she was forced to marry Bajrang by her family members. After the marriage differences cropped up between them and she came back to her parental home on the 22nd of August, 2007. Seeing their marital relationship going nowhere, the couple decided to take divorce. A few days before this horrific attack on her, they signed on some divorce papers in presence of an advocate and their caste elders. On the afternoon of October 24, 2007, at around 1:30 p.m., Shruti was causally sitting outside her parents’ home at Ghansi Bazaar, Charminar. She happened to notice that Bajrang came over on a motorbike, glanced at her and her home and swiftly left the place. Unmindful of the impending attack on her, she continued to sit outside. In a couple of minutes, Bajrang again came back on the motorbike, clad in the same shirt and a helmet, brought along with him acid in a glass and threw it in her direction, with an intent not just to disfigure her, but to infact to kill her. By a sudden impulse, Shruti turned away. Though her face has not been scarred by the acid, substantial portions of her legs, hands, back, neck, throat, parts of hair and forehead had been seriously burnt. Unable to tolerate the pain, she started screaming loudly and was immediately moved to the Osmania General Hospital at Afzalgunj by her grandfather. At the Hospital, her statement was recorded by the Sub-Inspector of Police of the Charminar Police Station, Mr. D. Venkanna Naik. Her Dying Declaration was also recorded by Mr. Rehman; XII Metropolitan Magistrate. Police registered a case under Sec 307 IPC and is in the Nampally magistrate’s court. However, after the death of the victim the case has been changed to Sec 302 IPC. While the victim, Shruthi has succumbed to the injuries and died on January 22 2008 just before the day when we thought of taking her sign to file domestic violence petition in the court to claim compensation. While she was in Osmania general hospital, her grandfather and brother aged 12 years take care of her. Her father was mentally ill and was not in a position to look after her. She had suffered 60% burns and was not given proper treatment. Her front and back parts of the body were severely damaged and every alternate day the bandage had to be changed but was not done so. One day when the bandage was to be changed, I went into the room, and what I witnessed was, the cotton was dipped into the Insulin liquid, placed on the burnt areas and tied with the bandage. When asked about why any medicine is not used they replied saying this is only the procedure. I also witnessed small worms on the bandage. Acid survivors are never cured completely. Their lifestyle becomes completely opposite of an ordinary person. They have to follow all the restrictions and prescriptions suggested by the doctors carefully to avoid further physical complications. However, initially, the victims need sophisticated medical facilities for specialized plastic surgery. They have to undergo several operations, which are very costly. It is nearly impossible for most of the families to pay for the extensive surgery cost needed to reconstruct the damaged parts and faces of the victims. The acid survivors also need specialized psychological treatment to emerge from the horror and trauma they have experienced. Many of the victims of these attacks are turned away from hospitals because they cannot afford the treatment. And if they are admitted, many hospitals do not follow the procedure of treatment. Not many people realize that acid victims need a different kind of first aid; they cannot be treated like ordinary burn victims. In several cases, women have died due to negligent treatment by the hospitals, insufficient care and unaffordable medicines. The doctors do not give medicines from the hospital, instead they instruct the patients to buy medicines from outside if they can afford. CLMCI

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REPORTS Report of the Fact-finding team on massacre of Muslims in Vatoli, and Communal violence of Bhainsa A fact finding team consisting of Prof.Rehana Sultana, Lateef Mohd khan, Lio Augustine, E. Gri Yadav, Yahiya Khan visited the Bhainsa and Vatoli of Adilabad district, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on 19th of October 2008 and met family members of the victims, the village elders, and the local social activists and police officials to find out the facts of the incidents. The team visited the house of the victims where six members of three families were burnt alive. The team visited the house of the victims; spoke to the neighbours, and police authorities. The incident of the Bhainsa can be looked at from three angles. First political, second religious and the third Hindutva angle. Vatoli is a small village and is 10 kms away from Bhainsa and the population is less than thousand people. In whole village there are only two Muslim families. Almost all the houses are built of mud tiles. The occupation of the people is agriculture. Politically, there two groups in the village. One is Narayan Rao Patil group, who is the sitting MLA of Madhole constituency, supported by Congress party, but the followers of this group are of BJP and Bajrang Dal. Second group is of left wing of CPI (ML) New Democracy. This village is on the border of Maharashtra state, which is influenced by Hindutva forces. The Hindu Vahini (a Hindutva group), is organizing training camps in different parts of Adilabad district and is spreading hatred among the people through distributing cassettes in all parts of the districts. Mahboob Khan, the victim was residing in this village since 23 years. His family consists of wife, two sons and two daughters. The elder son, Imran Khan is a science graduate and preparing for ICET; second son, Anwar Khan is a Military person working in Tibetan border force. Daughters names are Rizwana Begum and Khatija Khanam, both married, husbands well settled. Mahboob Khan’s family was not only well aware politically, but also a practical Muslim family and maintained his Muslim identity. Mahboob Khan maintained a Kirana shop at his house and also did tailoring work. In fact, his was a well settled family and lead a respected life in the village of Vatoli. On Friday afternoon 10th October, Dassera procession was moving and while passing in front of Masjid, the people participating in the procession were totally in drunken state and started making ugly remarks and showing dirty signs towards the Muslim group, which gave the meaning of misbehavior towards the women of the Muslim men. Because of this, the violence broke out, stone pelting started. Four constables and a SI were present when the violence broke out. The police authorities failed to control the procession and the violence. Because of which two Muslims and a Hindu lost their lives in the violence. The public property was damaged in large number. According to the eye witnesses, two persons died in police firing and one person died in stone pelting. Due to this violence, the tension spread to the three districts namely Adilabad, Nizamabad and Karimnagar. The people living in the remote areas were in great fear and terror. The minimum resistance from the Muslims of Bhainsa was not tolerated by the Hindutva forces. Therefore they started targeting the Muslims of the village. In the continuation of this violence, on 11th October 2008, the youth of Hindu Vahini group, who were sympathizers of the local MLA, played bhajans and keerthans in loud speakers, in the name of celebrating death anniversary of a youth. In this function, high quality of wine and dine was served. This function took place in the back side of the Mahboob Khan’s house which is an open ground. One of the respected and elder person of the village said that this type of function was never celebrated in the village. He also said that the house was burnt by these youths who were in a drunken state. When the reason was asked as to why all this happened, one of the people said that they wanted to maintain their Hindutva ideology through violence. On questioning further another person of the village said that the doors were locked from outside and they entered the house through removing mud tiles from the roof top and then women, men and children were murdered and burnt. They possessed petrol in large amount, and the petrol was bought from the petrol bunk of kollur village, near Nirmal. According to the reliable sources of the village, all the shameful acts were done with the Muslim family. The people of the village alleged that the women were misbehaved, the bodies amputated, then they were murdered and the bodies were put one above the other and the bodies were covered with all the pillows, bed sheets, and other clothes and burnt by pouring petrol. When the village people were asked as to why they did not go to help the victims, they said that due to the loud voice of the bhajans and keertans, the cries of the victims was covered up. This house is not the lone house, there are other houses attached to this house, and it is very unfortunate that nobody came to the rescue of this house. The people of the village came to know only after the arrival of the fire engine. Even the CPI 21

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(ML) New Democracy failed to fulfill their responsibility to rescue the family. When our team visited the village, not a single youth was present except all the elder people. All the youths ran away. This clearly indicates the involvement of the youths of the village in the incident. When the son and son-in-law of the family came to know of the incident, they rushed to the village and the police said nobody is inside the house but the family member insisted that all were present in the house. Both of them entered the house and searched the debris, where in the son-in-law found his own son’s head in his hand. Then in the process of clearing the debris, all the bodies were seen one above the other. When this brutal incident was highlighted, the police and the government declared that this incident happened due to shock circuit and raised many doubts on this particular family. When the pressure was built up by the different sources, and the demand for the CBI enquiry was raised, the police and the government took back their statements and declared the incident as homicide. DGP himself declared that this was an act of communalism in the fall out of Bhainsa, and the forces behind are Hindu Vahini. As soon as CBI investigation is ordered by the government it should be immediately implemented because the police is changing its statements continuously and trying to make the case weak, evidences are also being destroyed. This clearly means that the police is trying to hide the facts and the culprits, which may be because of its nexus with the Hindutva forces and political pressure. when the same incident took place in khairlanji, Prime Minister of India himself intervened and ordered CBI enquiry, because of immediate action by CBI the culprits are behind the bar, so why not similar quick action be taken now? This committee comes to the conclusion that under the congress regime the Hindutva forces are strengthening themselves which shows clear soft corner of congress for the Hindutva and the police are totally numb on Hindutva terrorism. The committee also comes to conclusion that under the Congress regime the minorities’ life and liberty is on high risk, and the Muslims are living in fear and terror in remote areas of Andhra Pradesh. We also believe that the ban on this organization is not the solution; instead Hindutva propaganda should be stopped and training camps closed. There should be a high level committee consisting of retired judges, prominent lawyers, Human rights activists, social activists to check the activities of such organization and also these kinds of atrocities on minorities. This committee also observes that now a days the police officers who are performing the duties are highly influenced by the Hindutva forces or previously they were the workers of these organizations during their students life because of which they are completely ignoring and maintaining silence and giving free hand to Hindutva forces. The secular training should be provided to the police force. We believe that this Muslim’s carnage is a blot on the communist face because it happened at the place of its strong hold. Demands: 1. The atrocities on the minorities should be immediately stopped. 2. The special act similar to the SC/ST Atrocities (prevention) Act should be immediately formed for the minorities. 3. CBI investigation should be immediately implemented to punish the culprit as happened in the case of Dalit massacre at khairlanji. 4. Free and fair investigation should be done and strict action should be taken by the police, without the interference of the political influence because there is a suspicious role of present MLA and vice-sarpanch supported by the congress. 5. The Hindutva groups such as Hindu Vahini, Bajrang Dal and VHP which are spreading all over the Andhra Pradesh should be immediately stopped. 6. The Hindutva training camps should be closed which are situated in the various villages of Andhra Pradesh and even in Hyderabad city, because these Hindutva training camps are the root cause for the violence and massacre, which are working for the repetition of Gujarat Genocide, to gain the power and implement the Hindutva agenda. Note:-The deceased family member strongly feels that the Telugu and English media is not fair enough in reporting the incident and not given importance as it deserve. At present the condition of this case is that, the civil police itself are investigating and arrested few petty criminals and put behind bars and later they were also released on bail. The culprits are still roaming free. The people involved in this massacre are the MLA, MA, Sarpanch and Hindu Vahini activists. The family members demand is that CBI inquiry should be done immediately and justice should be done to the family. CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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Fact-Finding Report – Sameera Begum’s Murder Civil liberties Monitoring Committee with its fact finding team comprising Prof. Rehana Sultana, Lateef Mohd Khan, Yahiya Khan, Dr. Rafat Seema, A. Srinivas, Dr. Junaid, Noorjahan Siddiqui, Khadija Begum and Mohd. Ismail Khan visited the house of 16 year old Sameera Begum, resident of Talaab Katta who was pushed from the top of historic monument Charminar. The team visited the houses of Sameera Begum, murderer Arshad and spoke to their parents’ family members and neighbours and bring out the facts. Immediately after the ghastly incident at Charminar, Prof. Rehana Sultana president of CLMCI, Dr. Rafat Seema Gen. Secretary Nisa, and Noorjahan Siddiqui Gandhi Peace Foundation were among the people who visited the Osmania General Hospital to console the victim and know aboutthe tormentor. On the second day also these people witnessed with their eyes the pain she was undergoing for the struggle between life and death. She was not given the type of treatment which a severely injured person should be given. She was injured severely and should have been given treatment admitting her to the AICU; instead she was kept in emergency ward. Due to unbearable pain and strokes she fell far from the bed and breathed her last. This unfortunate and helpless girl underwent acute pain and anguish both during her life and during her death. The facts of the Fact-finding team are as follows: Sameera Begum lived with her family in the densely populated area of talaab Katta in a rented house. They are 2 sisters and 4 brothers’ altogether. They earn their livelihood through selling the mirrors. Sameera’s mother Ms. Khursheed Begum while speaking to the team said, “if at all the working men folk of the house were proper; my daughter would not have faced this kind of death”. The men folk of the house spent their earnings on drinking alcohol because of which financial problem arose therefore Sameera’s mother also sells the mirrors and earns Rs. 150/ every day to meet the household expenditure. She also said an important thing that this is not only the issue of my daughter or my family it is the problem of whole civil society, and this kind of situation should not come to anyone’s daughter, whether of any religion or community. Sameera’s mother also said that they had to borrow an amount of Rs.6000/ for the purpose of one of her son from a person named Arshad. While giving loan to this lady, Arshad said that he borrowed the amount from one Srikant, therefore these people will have to repay an amount of Rs.14,000/. He also pointed that the amount should be sent through their daughters to his house. This way Khursheed Begum borrowed loan of Rs. 6000/ to settle her second son in employment. She also said that all the family members of Arshad give loans with interest, knowing this she asked Arshad to give loan to her as well. Whereas Arshad said that he provides loan to people from a financer named Srikanth, with 40% of interest, he gives loans and arranges for loans; but Khursheed Begum never saw Srikanth. Everyday she was giving Arshad an amount of Rs. 200/ for the repayment of loan amount and on the insistence of Arshad only, she was sending the amount through her daughters Sameera begum and Sameena Begum to his house. According to her, Arshad’s sisters would take the amount from her daughters; till now she repaid an amount of Rs. 5000/ but due to financial and household problems she could not repay the rest of the amount. When Khursheed Begum was not in a position to repay the amount, Arshad warned her that she would have to repay the rest of the amount with a fine of Rs.200/ per day. He also threatened her that if the amount is paid late then he would take away all the household items and also lift the female persons from the house. Khursheed Begum had a mobile phone bearing number 9390939290 which was always with Sameera Begum. Arshad started giving threatening calls on mobile. Sameera was very much worried about the threatening and told her mother that they should arrange the rest of the amount from somewhere else and repay the loan as soon as possible. On the morning of 9th June Khursheed Begum went to one of her relative to borrow money; while she left Sameera Begum was cooking in the kitchen. After her mother left, Sameera told her sister that she is going out for some urgent work and from that day onwards Sameera was missing. Her mother Khursheed 23

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Begum said that she was continuously dialing on her mobile and each time an unknown lady was receiving the call and saying that your daughter is kidnapped you can no longer speak to your daughter. Even after this Khursheed Begum did not give complaint in police station she said that we are poor people and because of word spread in society she did not complain in police station, if at all she would have given complaint in the police station and then if her daughter would have returned then she would have had to face and answer both the society and the police personnel. On that day evening, Arshad once again arrived at their home demanding to pay loan, on this Khursheed Begum requested him to give one more day time because she is worried as her daughter is missing from home. On the fateful day of 11th June when Sameera was thrown from Charminar at 4.30pm; on the same evening at 7pm Arshad went to Sameera’s house, collected an amount of Rs.200/ and also took away the notebook in which all the details of repayment of loan was written. While leaving he told Khursheed Begum that one girl of Talaab Katta has fell down from Charminar, enquire about it. When they watched news in a TV channel they became sure that the girl is Sameera herself. All the members went in to shock. At Sameera’s house we also met a lady who was a relative of Khursheed Begum. According to her on 9th June Sameera came to her house and asked for a pair of slippers to wear, on this that lady asked her where she was going, Sameera answered that she was going out along with Nazia. According to locals Nazia runs a beauty parlour at Yakutpura. Khursheed Begum said that Sameera had a new Burqa (veil); whereas we saw her in old Burqa when she was in hospital and also when she was shown on TV near Charminar. After she was pushed from Charminar, she was immediately shifted to Osmania Hospital. There at first instance she gave statement that she was pushed from Charminar by Arshad and she went to Charminar along with Nazia. She also told the address of Arshad’s house and then, suddenly she fell from the bed and became unconscious. When we visited Arshad’s house, we met Arshad’s father, uncle and brothers. Their behavior was different; they were not ready to speak and they were also insisting not to record any thing. They strongly denied about the loan given by their son and also said that they don not know Srikanth and Nazia. Arshad’s house is near the Graveyard of Rangeeli Khidki at Yakutpura. His father has nine sons and six daughters. He runs a dairy farm from which they earn thousands of rupees per day by selling 200 litres of milk. When we questioned them in different ways, one of his brothers said that Arshad used to give loans after taking from Srikanth and also used to go to collect the amount. They also know Nazia Begum. The family members almost tried not to disclose the facts. This incident did not make them worry even for a single minute. It is matter of deep concern that the present Congress government ignored this incident as a routine matter. There are six women ministers in the cabinet, but all in vain, Home Minister, Ms Sabita Indra Reddy, neither visited the hospital nor the residence, to see or console Sameera or her family and till date, did not even comment or condemn this issue, by this one can imagine how much serious is government about the people of old city of Hyderabad. Women were very much happy when a woman became the Home Minister and thought that some relief will be provided to women, but daily incidents are taking place against women, violence against women have increased, and Andhra Pradesh is top in all India level in the atrocities against the women. If this incident would have happened any where else in A.P, then the same minister would have rushed to the spot and would have provided all kinds of help and relief, but here she did nothing, it may be lack of Muslim leadership, or government may be thinking that they are already in their pockets and nobody will question the government. The Findings of the team are as follows: 1. Sameera Begum was the victim of illegal financer; the tormentor harassed her repeatedly, it is a pre-planned murder. Police is hiding the truth of illegal financing and connecting it with love affair, it seems that police is managed and working under the influence and pressure of mafia groups. This is not the first case, in fact previously also, so many men and women committed suicide due to the harassment in the form of kidnapping, manhandling with the women, and rape in front of their husbands. These illegal financers maintain private force and detention centers, where they torture the victims. As per the sources the unidentified bodies recovered CIVIL LIBERTIES Bulletin -1

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from Hussain Sagar or elsewhere is nothing but mostly the victims of these tormentors only. If the government, police and civil society do not come forward then the condition will be out of control. 2. This incident is a shame for the whole civil society and admonitory for Muslim society and it proves that social evils are becoming deep rooted in society and social values are scattering. 3. The increasing social evils and declining of social values in the city of Hyderabad where hundreds of Islamic schools and famous Islamic universities exist clearly show that they are ignoring their social responsibilities. 4. It is also a matter of fact that Muslim’s social and religious organizations are responsible for these miserable conditions, who have millions of rupees in their accounts, collected in the name of poor Muslims. However, the ground reality is that in Hyderabad city poor Muslims are selling their daughters to Arab Shaiks, prostitution is on its peak level and common in thickly populated old city of Hyderabad. Due to un-employment and social evils, crime ratio is high; illegal financers are giving the loan on the interest rate of 30% to 40%. These all are happening to meet daily expenses for their livelihoods. If the Zakat is distributed among the poor Muslims sincerely, there will not be any poor in this city 5. 5 Apart from the above factors Civil Liberties Committee hold Government of Andhra Pradesh responsible because it is the basic and constitutional duty of Government to provide livelihood to the people, but the government ignored the development of old city completely. In 2006 -07 chief Minister Rajshekhar Reddy announced 2 thousand crores of rupees for the development of old city, but till date government did not release single rupee, by this we can imagine how sincere is the Government towards the devolvement of old city of Hyderabad. 6. Due to the high-level corruption and collection of mamool in police department, anti social elements and mafia dons are dominating and running their activities openly, without any fear. 7. Actually, at present the old city of Hyderabad is under the clutches of illegal financer’s mafia groups having their own private force and detention centers. Old city of Hyderabad has become the breeding ground of illegal financer’s, mafia groups (usually called pahalvans) and criminals. In fact in the entire city illegal financers are providing loans, but in the old city their interest rate is about 40%. They are running their illegal financing in Yaqutpura, Dabeerpura, Talabkatta, Nashamin Nagar, Bhavani Nagar, Aman Nagar, Baba Nagar, Pahadi Meer Momin area, Barkas, Vattepally, Falaknuma. Illegal financers are also giving loans on daily basis, this mostly happens in business areas where they give money in morning and collect in the evening. As per the information received, in the areas from Charminar to Pathergatti and Madina building, this type of financing takes place and local political workers are involved. In Dabeerpura and Yaqutpura there is window system to collect the daily installment which follows strict timings, if any body comes after closing of window, financers refuse to accept the installment and impose the penalty which is equal to the installment. 8. Pawn centers can be seen in every hook and corner of lanes and by lanes of old city of Hyderabad. They are providing loans by taking their ration cards, driving license, R.C. book of their auto rickshaws and even utensils used in cooking. 9. Because of illiteracy and poverty, people of old city of Hyderabad become easy prey of illegal financers. In addition, one factor is that these poor people wants to follow the foot steps of rich people in performing marriages and other functions, this is happening only because of photos of marriages of rich people published with the political leaders, and editors of newspapers, which are mostly published in Urdu newspapers. This committee believes that this system is affecting society and the main cause of spending more amount than their income, on functions is to show their so-called status and to invite more and more people and celebrities in DAWAT (functions). 10. The beauty parlors and massage centers in the city are also one of the factors of growing social evils; these are axis for social evils. By taking advantage of poverty, women are working as agents, diverting innocent girls towards prostitution. The main centers exist near A.P. government secretariat, Hyderabad city police control room, public gardens, Basheerbagh, and Brutal house running nearer to military areas. 25

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11. The people of old city are not provided loans from the banks, because they cannot produce any documents as security. Even minority financial corporation failed to provide small loan amount to poor people of old city of Hyderabad. 12. Government has failed completely in developing the old city; funds are granted never released.

for the namesake but

13. Police department is responsible for these kinds of deaths; in spite of knowing facts of illegal financing, they never step ahead at least to discourage them. 14. The whole civil society, government agencies and especially police department should come together in eliminating the illegal financers. 15. This committee strongly believes that in Sameera Begum’s murder case only few factors are exposed but many other factors are still hidden and have not come out. In murder of Sameera begum there are so many angles, there is nexus between illegal financers, mafia dons, mediators, agents, beauty parlors, local political agents and the police is playing central role. Therefore we Demand the following: 1. Justice should be done to Sameera Begum for which Judicial inquiry should be done into the whole matter of murder as well as illegal financers and their nexus with the pimps (person involved in prostitution as agent) and police. 2. The business of illegal financers should be stopped with immediate effect. 3. Government should pay the compensation to the victim’s family, and should provide government employment to the kith and kin of the deceased. 4. Government should start development programmes in old city. 5. Government should issue the direction to all the nationalized banks to provide the loans to the poor people of old city, as it is providing loans to farmers on 25 paisa interest in rural areas. 6. Minority finance corporation office should be established in old city and a single window system should be introduced for speedy and easy access. 7. It is the duty and moral responsibility of Home Minister to enquire of the incident and visit the area and provide help and ex gratia to the family. Therefore we demand to take immediate action, because this is a social matter. 8. The local MLA’s and M.P should come forward to eradicate illegal financing, it is their primary duty to provide minimum basic facilities and to develop the old city, and to pressurise the government to implement welfare schemes in their areas. 9. As the mother of Sameera says that nobody should become the victim of illegal financers as her daughter met, it is possible only when zero tolerance against illegal financers. For that strong will of political and social group is necessary. We demand with these groups who are in power in old city to act immediately and decisively. The present condition of this case is that CLMCI has submitted petitions at State Human Rights Commission, and High Court of A.P. SHRC has notices to the Collector and DCP South zone. High Court has issued notice to Chief Secretary of A.P. On the other side, the culprit Arshad has been released on bail. The police has not filed charge sheet until date. Mother of Sameera has said that the family is receiving threat calls from a political party and while supporting the accused; they have bribed and asked the family to take back the case.

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Fact-finding report on the lock-up death and suspicious death of constable on Orderly work Dalits treated with prejudice - whether a policeman or an accused - tortured till death A team of Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee comprising Lateef Mohd Khan, A.Srinivas, S.Q. Masood, Kaneez Fathima, M.Mandakini, Mohd.Ismail Khan, Mohd Kaleem Ahmed and Rangaswamy visited the houses of the Armed Police Constable P.Muralinath, who died in the house of DIG Octopus Vivek Dubey in Noida and the lockup death of 30 year old Janardhan at L.B.nagar Police station to know the facts of the incidents. Janardhan was kept in illegal detention and tortured for three days on the charges of theft where he died; we reached his house and spoke to his family members mother Sattemma, brother Sadanand, who gave us the facts. He said that his brother was picked up by policemen in civil dress from his house on the midnight of 2nd August. An oral complaint was given in Golconda police station on which the Golconda police sent an alert message through wireless. Janardhan who was working as security guard, his family members started searching him on 3rd august but were unable to find him. On 4th August at 4pm, L.B.Nagar policemen brought him to his house in Tata Sumo and took away 2 tola gold chain, a gold ring, two cell phones, TV, bank pass book and pension pass book. Janardhan’s condition was very bad and except his sister nobody else was present in home at that time. Janardhan was not even able to stand properly and fell down many a times. When asked for water and food, he was kicked by the policemen on his stomach and told that he will be fed at his in laws house. Later in the evening at 7pm they got the information that he was shifted to Gandhi Hospital where he was declared brought dead. Janardhan’s relatives’ 40-50 members demonstrated at L.B. Nagar PS and later the dead body was handed over to them after the postmortem. Sadanand said that there were signs of beatings on his feet soul. There were marks of torture on stomach, ribs, near the eyes and on the face. Janardhan’s brother says that even if there were charges of theft on his brother, then that should have been dealt according to the law. His mother questioned why her son was kidnapped and killed? Is this police or the gang of killers? His brother Sadanand said that a case of murder and SC/ST Atrocities Act should be booked on the killers and they should be punished, so that no other youth becomes the prey of such kind of torture. The team then reached the L.B Nagar PS and met SI Naveen Kumar and SHO Saidulu and enquired about the facts. First of all they denied saying that they do not know anything about the facts, then as the team started asking them questions, they were compelled to say and told that a case has been booked in Chilkalguda PS under section 176 Cr PC and also said that this incident happened because of ill fate, otherwise who will want to loose their jobs by doing such things, and they also said that two of the persons suspended were new SIs. Like wise the team visited the house of Armed Police Constable P.Muralinath who was sent on orderly work to the house of Vivek Dubey, DIG Octopus at Noida, and spoke to the wife of Muralinath and consoled her. She said that her husband was a self respectable person and in near future was to get promoted to the post of SI; he was very fond of stars. One day suddenly he got orders from CPL commandant Mr. Abraham Lincoln to reach Delhi immediately. On the fear that he might loose the chances of promotion if he does not obey the order, he decided to go to Delhi. This orderly work was for 15 days. On morning of 20th July he left for Delhi by AP express from Hyderabad railway station. As Noida is a remote area, where barely anything is available, he took with himself 2 cell phones and chargers. On 22nd he called his wife and expressed 27

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dissatisfaction about the living conditions. Apart from the work for which he was sent, he was also asked to Wash clothes, clean utensils and clean toilets. According to his wife, her husband was under house arrest. His last call to her came on 28th July, wherein he expressed a kind of fear and said that he will be killed; he asked his wife to go and meet Home minister Ms. Sabita Reddy, do Dharna in front of Assembly and lodge a complaint in Police station, and at any cost save his life. He also called his sister and told the same things, and also said that he is beaten on his private parts very badly and he was forced to drink his own urine. His wife started worrying and discussed with the family members, and also was planning to lodge a complaint in police station. On 30th night at round 8.30pm two constables paid a general visit. Again on 31st July two constables came and one constable named Venkatesh asked Ms. Kavita not to lodge complaint, and said a reliever is sent and Murali will be called back and further suggested, after her husband comes back, both of you go and give complaint. On 1st August, they got information that Murlinath has died, on which the family members gave complaints to Home Minister and SHRC, and then they came to know that Muralinath was buried in Gwalior after postmortem. They demanded that the body should be handed over to the family. Deceased Muralinath’s wife said that the department did not even give the news of the death of her husband, instead they hid the facts and it was a great conspiracy in which the police officials of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi are involved. Ms. Kavita also said that only on the base of caste they have been harassed, and this is not the first incident of this kind, earlier also such incidents happened. Ms. Kavita’s wish was that she should have a last look at her husband; therefore she went to mortuary and saw the body. She was shocked to see that the head was cut off from the body, the fingers were cut, and other body parts were missing. After knowing all the facts, the fact finding team observes that, a person who is a dalit, whether he might be an accused or a policeman, there is no difference in discriminatory treatment, he is always tortured and killed. The demands of the Civil Liberties fact-finding team are as follows: 1. In both the cases, the culprits should be booked under SC/ST Atrocities Act, a case of murder under section 302 should be booked, and the culprits should be arrested. 2. Judicial enquiry should be conducted on the lock up death case, and CBI enquiry should be done on the suspicious death of constable, because there is inter- state link of the IPS officers of three states. 3. For the enquiry of Muralinath case, the three-member committee was formed to protect IPS Dubey; therefore, the report is not reliable. 4. DIG Octopus Vivek Dubey should be immediately suspended and arrested in the case of constable death, and the five policemen who are suspended in the case of lock up death, should be immediately arrested. 5. In both the cases, the family members should be given ex gratia and government employment. The present condition of the case of lock-up death is that the policemen involved in the death have been suspended but no other action has been taken against them and the case is pending till now. In the case of suspicious death of the constable who was on orderly work, a three-member committee was formed, not to investigate but to protect the IPS officers responsible for this death namely Vivek Dubey and Abraham Lincoln. Later they were suspended.

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